In the present electronic product industry, there are several processes involved in manufacturing an electronic device, and different processing systems and methods are necessary to be adopted while fabricating different components thereof. Besides, a sealed environment and even a clean environment are also of great importance for the mentioned processes and apparatuses, such as the electroplating, the etching, the depositing, the sputtering, the packaging and the testing processes and the relevant apparatuses.
However, the conventional processing system, which includes a conveying belt or a transmission apparatus for loading an electronic component for being processed therein and unloading the processed electronic component therefrom, is not able to satisfy the mentioned demands. A quite long distance for conveying and transmitting the electronic components is always necessary for the electronic component fabrication because several conventional processing systems are included therein. Hence the whole apparatus would occupy a lot of space. Furthermore, the electronic component, no matter the one for being processed or the processed one, would be at a great risk of being contaminated and damaged. Moreover, the entry and the export of the processing system need to be respectively opened when the electronic component is loaded therein and unloaded therefrom, which may also result in a contamination of the processing system. Therefore, such a processing system is not practical as its high cost in addition to the mentioned drawbacks.
In the present days, a processing system having only an entry for the electronic component is commonly applied in the electronic component fabrication. All the electronic components including the processed ones and the ones for being processed are respectively loaded into the processing system and unloaded therefrom. Hence the conveying or the transmitting distance can be reduced and the electronic components are further protected from being contaminated in the process. Through the transmission apparatus, an electronic component for being processed is loaded into the processing system, and then the electronic component, which is processed therein, is unloaded therefrom. For loading and unloading the electronic component more easily, a conveying apparatus needs to be configured in the processing system.
Please refer to FIG. 1, which is a diagram showing a conventional conveying apparatus configured in the processing system according to the prior art. The conventional conveying apparatus includes a first supporter 11 and a second supporter 12 with different heights for respectively holding a first object 21 loaded in and a second object 22 unloaded by a transmission apparatus 10, which is shown in FIG. 2. A holder 111 is configured with the first supporter 11 for holding the first object 21 and then being lowered, so that the first object 21 can be transferred to the carrying platform of the processing system (not shown). The second object 22 is lifted off the carrying platform through the second supporter 12, so as to be conveyed by the transmission apparatus 10. With reference to FIGS. 2(A) and 2(B), which are top-views showing the arrangements of the first supporter 11 and the second supporter 12, respectively, it is apparent that the first object 21 is held by the first supporter 11 and the second object 22 is held by the second supporter 12.
Since the first supporter 11 is arranged at the outer portion of the processing system and the second supporter 12 is arranged at the inner portion thereof, the respective holding areas for holding objects are different. As shown in FIG. 1, L1 and L2 are the holding lengths of the holding areas for the first object 21 and the second object 22, respectively, wherein L2 is smaller than L1. Accordingly, the holding area of the second supporter 12 for holding the second object 22 is smaller than that of the first supporter 11 for holding the first object 21, which will make the second object 22 easy to fall out of its position in the processing if a vibration of the processing system or an operation error for the transmission apparatus 10 happens.
Moreover, fall of the second object 22 not only hurts itself but also damages the carrying platform or the other apparatus configured in the processing system. This may cause the processing system to shut down. The whole process has to be broken down because the hurt object needs to be taken off therefrom, the processing system needs to be cleaned out, and the broken parts thereof also need to be repaired. The mentioned cleaning and repairing always take much time and money. Besides, the hurt object may contaminate the processing system and the production yield is reduced accordingly. An additional production cost is hence necessary.
Based on the mentioned points, it is necessary for the manufacturers to develop a processing system with an improved conveying or transmission apparatus for overcoming the drawbacks of the conventional ones. An improved method and an improved apparatus for conveying are provided in the present application accordingly.